ShareThisIs Washington, D.C., the new New York?
That's the word from the cultural temperature-takers -- Vogue magazine and The Daily Beast's Tina Brown, for starters. Yes, the nation's capital seems a different place -- hipper, happier, more energized -- than it did 100 days ago when Barack Obama moved into the White House.
At least its mayor thinks so.
"It's very much as if someone has taken our fantastically lit city and put a brighter light bulb in it," said District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty, as he toured a new public school building under construction last week. "The whole city is energized. It's great to have Obama and his family supporting the city, moving around. People are still pinching themselves."
Fenty -- who is black and, like Obama, also has a beautiful, accomplished lawyer wife named Michelle -- isn't the only one pinching himself at the thought of the first African-American president.
As the media and various politicos busied themselves hyping Obama's first 100 days in office, this city's residents and workers, most of them black and Democratic, seem scarcely able to contain their euphoria.
"20 Reasons to Love Living Here," crowed Washingtonian Magazine's cover this month, featuring a shirtless Obama, rippling pectorals and all. ("Reason No. 2: 'Our New Neighbor is Hot.' ")
Maisha Meminger, 32, racing to catch a commuter train, said that as an African-American she looks forward to going to work at the Labor Department these days.
"When the motorcade drives by, people are stopping and waving," she said. "People are excited to send their kids to school, not knowing if Michelle Obama is going to show up that day so their children can be thoroughly amazed."
The first lady has frequently invited children from the city's public schools to the White House. Bancroft Elementary School students have gone twice to work on the South Lawn vegetable garden.
She has also ventured into high-crime neighborhoods, attending roundtable discussions with Anacostia High School students and inspecting three nonprofits.
"This is her background, where she came from," said Wes Combs, a marketing executive for the gay and lesbian community. "She wants to see what makes this city what it is."
She's had some fun, too. While her husband hasn't dined out as much as restaurateurs had hoped, the first lady has sampled hamburgers at the Five Guys Burgers and Fries chain and soul food at B. Smith's in Union Station.
Washington's social scene, once dominated by Georgetown hostesses, has shifted its center of gravity. The city's African-American elites -- from Black Entertainment Television's Debra Lee to longtime political fixer Vernon Jordan -- "own this town now," Combs said. He notes that the administration's social secretary, Desiree Rogers, is black, as is the new head of the Office of Public Liaison, Valerie Jarrett.
"In some ways, we, the whites, are now the outsiders," he added. "We're not in charge anymore. It's interesting to watch the dynamics, but if anyone is going to bridge the racial divide in this city, the Obamas are going to do it."
At the 54th annual Corcoran Ball last week, Rogers was seated at the head table. The crowd was "hands down more integrated than I've ever seen," said Christina Wilkie, managing editor of Washington Life magazine, which chronicles the city's social scene.
The city's thriving cultural scene has moved farther east into formerly crime-ridden neighborhoods near the 14th and U Street corridor, site of 1968's worst racial rioting. In the 1990s, spurred by the city, developers began investing in urban-renewal projects. Today, the area bustles with wine bars, condominiums, restaurants and antique shops.
On a recent night, a group of young Obama administration officials sat outside Posto, a new 14th Street eatery frequented by Obama aides Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod. The officials compared notes -- off the record, of course, since the administration tightly controls its message -- about who'd been hired and who was waiting to be placed at a government agency.
These young administration people are younger and more diverse than their predecessors in the Bush administration, even as their president has surrounded himself with mostly white males as his closest political advisers.
"It's a disappointment," one Latina staffer admitted as she sipped a margarita.
Still, the first lady swore in the highest-ranking openly gay administration official in history, Combs noted with pride. John Berry is the new director of personnel.
Obama's arrival has created something of a shift in the media pecking order, too. At his first news conference, the president called on Huffington Post blogger Sam Stein, prompting much commentary in the media.
"There's a lot of status anxiety among people who used to be at the top of the heap -- the people at the top newspapers, the top newsmagazines, maybe even the networks, to some degree. There's a sense that nobody really knows who's on top," said Tim Noah, the "Chatterbox" columnist at Slate.com. He noted that Politico.com has become a daily must-read, in addition to Huffington Post and Slate.
"I thought it was refreshing, actually, to shake things up," said Chris Wallace, who hosts "Fox News Sunday." His own network has seen its fortunes improve dramatically in the 100 days since Obama took office, soaring to the top of the ratings heap.
While a lot of Bush administration people have moved back to Texas, conservatives haven't all left town.
On day 95 of the first 100 days -- last Friday -- prominent Obama critics William Bennett and Charles Krauthammer were seen lunching at The Palm Restaurant, a longtime watering hole for Washington's movers and shakers. Camera crews staked out a politician on North Capitol Street. Armenian protesters picketed the Turkish Embassy on Massachusetts Avenue, and by 2 p.m. Friday, Beltway traffic had slowed to a crawl.
Some things in Washington apparently never change, no matter who is president.
(E-mail Mackenzie Carpenter at mcarpenter(at)post-gazette.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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